Minneapolis couple says ICE released tear gas under their family vehicle with 6 children inside

A couple and their six children say they were trapped inside their vehicle in the Twin Cities when a tear gas canister exploded underneath them during an interaction with ICE officers. 

Shawn and Destiny Jackson have an 11- and 7-year-old, 4-year-old twins, a 2-year-old and a 6-month-old baby boy. They were on their way home from basketball practice when they were caught between protesters and ICE agents. 

“They stopped at my car, and they proceeded to yell in and said, ‘Get out of here.’ Well, they used profanity. And my husband screamed and said, ‘We’re trying,'” Destiny Jackson said. 

The couple stayed calm, they said, while ICE agents ramped up their demands. 

“They said it again, and we said, ‘We’re trying, if you guys will move.’ And of course, everybody saying what happened with Renee, you know, we weren’t going to pull off while they were right there. That’s what we were trying to avoid,” Destiny Jackson said. 

She said the agents walked to the back of their vehicle and released a canister of tear gas under their vehicle. 

“Within seconds, there was a big boom and our car was up in the air and we slammed down and all of our airbags deployed and all of our doors locked. And tear gas just started forming, a ball of gas just started forming around the car,” Destiny Jackson said. 

WCCO has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment about the incident.  

When the tear gas was released, Destiny Jackson says panic set in.

“I managed to feel around and open up everybody’s, like, I unlocked everybody’s door and I hopped out, and I just started pulling as many kids as I could out,” she said. 

Bystanders stepped up. Destiny Jackson said she was taken inside a house nearby, and total strangers began helping her children out of the smoke-filled vehicle. 

“The last person to get out of the car was my infant child,” she said. “And when he came in, he was, like, lifeless. It was like foam or bubbles coming out of his mouth. I had to give him mouth-to-mouth and CPR. I couldn’t even breathe myself, and all I remember is between every breath, I was saying, ‘I’m going to give you every breath I have until you get yours back.'” 

The couple has been together since their days at North High School. Shawn Jackson, who was coached by Minneapolis and Metro Transit police officers, says he has respect for law enforcement. Now, their lives are forever changed by ICE agents and a canister of tear gas. 

“It was like they didn’t have a care in the world for us,” Shawn Jackson said. 

“The windows were down. You could see my kids in the car, the lights were on in the car,” Destiny Jackson added. 

The parents say their children are traumatized and are not sleeping, but are physically OK. A fund has been set up to help the family with medical bills and to replace the family vehicle.